Kat's Baptism and UN

On Friday, November 20, 2015, we attended Kaytlin Germosa's baptism. What a special occasion! Kat started coming to Institute in Elizabeth last spring with her friend, Gina Campoverde.  Both Kat and Gina were attending Kean University there in Elizabeth.  Gina has since graduated.  As we were getting to know Kat, she told us that she had a class at the university about world religions.  She was intrigued with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A mutual friend introduced Kat to Gina. Thankfully, Gina had a car and was able to bring Kat with her to Institute.  Last spring we were studying the Doctrine and Covenants.  During the first class that Kat attended, Elder Hancock showed a short clip from the video "Joseph Smith and the Restoration."  He asked Kat if she understood what was being discussed and she said no.  She did say though that she wanted to see the complete video about Joseph Smith.  Elder Hancock sent her a link and she did watch it.

The next week after Institute class as I was getting to know Kat better, I asked her if Gina had given her a Book of Mormon.  She said no.  I gave her a book and told her a little about it.  Then I told her that if she was really interested in getting to know more about the church that I could set up having the missionaries come and meet with her.  At first she was a little unsure about having missionaries until I explained to her that they would be young and about her own age.  She gave me permission to give them a call.  That night after class I texted the sister missionaries and gave them her contact information.  I then texted Kat back and told her the names of the sister missionaries and that they would be calling her.

For the next couple of months, Kat attended the Elizabeth English Branch and had all the missionary discussions.  Everyone was calling her "golden" and she had a baptismal date scheduled for the end of June. Then, the challenges started.  Kat cancelled the date for her baptism because her mother was in the hospital. Then, later in July, Kat's family went on vacation to Texas. Kat no longer answered my texts and we wondered if maybe she had changed her mind about the church. The missionaries that had taught her were bewildered.

It was a happy day when we heard that Kat was attending the branch again and had decided to go ahead with her baptism.  Kat brought her mother and sister, three roommates and a childhood friend to her baptism.  It was a nice service.  After the baptism, Kat came and thanked me for setting things up with the missionaries last spring.  She looked very happy.

Before Kat's baptism

Gina Campoverde, Kaytlin Germosa, Hancocks

Briefing at the United Nations

We have been able to do and see practically everything we have wanted to while here in this area. And, most of these opportunities have come through our CES Director, Brother David Bean.  This last week, Brother Bean sent us an email telling us of a briefing that he had just been made aware of and wondered if any of us would like to attend with him.  The briefing was about human trafficking and LDS author and expert, Timothy Ballard, was to be on the panel.  We decided to go and have this experience even though it was a difficult topic to listen to.

 The briefing was on Thursday, November 19th at 11am.  It was a rainy day, but not cold.  We had to catch a taxi out of Penn Station to get to the UN.  Being in a taxi in Manhattan is an experience in itself!  I took a quick photo to document the experience:

There were three in the back seat and Reed in the front.

The taxi driver on the way back to Penn station was quite the entertainer!  He told us story after story and we realized by the time that we arrived at the station that none of it was true.  He said that he does that to keep the occupant's minds off his driving.

As we attended the briefing, I kept thinking of my daughter, LeAnn, who works with women and is an advocate for them. What was mostly being discussed in the meeting was the sexual exploitation of women and children.  One of the presenters said that it was a 32 billion dollar a year business.  Then, another presenter said that it was more like 150 billion dollar business.  Either way, it is way out of control all around the world.

Tim Ballard is the CEO of Operation Underground Railroad and he tries to help and rescue those who have been caught in the sexual slave trades.  Sad to say, but only one in a hundred are ever rescued.  This, and pornography, are definitely a latter-day plague!


Primary Programs

On to a happier topic . . . this past weekend we attended two Primary programs; one in New Brunswick and one in Newark.  I played the piano for both programs.  Last year I helped with the Primary programs in Elizabeth and Perth Amboy.  If these wards and branches cannot find a missionary to play the piano, then they use the recordings of the primary songs and hymns.

The Primary in New Brunswick ward is small and the children are very young.  Hermana Sevilla, the Primary president, had her son, Elvin, and Alan Sarabia join with the Primary for the program even though they have graduated and are deacons.

After the program, Hermana Sevilla went from class to class and took pictures of the New Brunswick Primary children.  Here are a couple of pictures.













The Newark Spanish ward had a very polished program.  The children knew their parts and songs.  There were solo singers and one girl played the piano as they sang.  As typical with the Latino culture, they asked everyone to wear the same color and then they had flowers for the girls' hair.  They decorated the chapel and entryway with flowers, footsteps, pictures of the children and messages from the program. We were impressed that each year this Primary sends out invitations with the children to invite grandparents, teachers, and friends to come and attend the program.  The chapel was packed as was the overflow.

Newark Primary, Rosa Benavides President on right

From this week's lesson...

The Hebrew word "manna" means "...what is it?" That is what they said when they first encountered it. And thus the name stuck.

“By providing a daily sustenance, one day at a time, Jehovah was trying to teach faith to a nation that over a period of some 400 years had lost much of the faith of their fathers. He was teaching them to trust Him, to ‘look unto [Him] in every thought; doubt not, fear not’ (D&C 6:36). He was providing enough for one day at a time. Except for the sixth day, they could not store manna for use in any succeeding day or days. In essence, the children of Israel had to walk with Him today and trust that He would grant a sufficient amount of food for the next day on the next day, and so on. In that way He could never be too far from their minds and hearts” (“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”, elder Christofferson, [Church Educational System fireside, Jan. 9, 2011]; broadcast.lds. org).

We can likewise daily partake of "the bread of life" through prayer and studying the words of God in the scriptures to feed our spirits. Our spirits are on the same cycle as our bodies as they both need daily sustenance. What a blessing we have to have the scriptures so available to us - literally at our finger tips. I think that places a sacred responsibility on us to use them often, daily.